HYDROLOGICAL EDGE

AIA National/Huron Valley Graduate Award

Critic: Claudia Wigger

Collaborators: Lyla Feinsod and Lijing Quian

Program: pedestrian bridge, mixed use public spaces

Site: Chicago, IL

Themes: interaction with water, community, transparency

Throughout its history, the Chicago River has been used for industrial and manufacturing purposes, which led to extreme pollution. This infrastructural intervention explores the current disconnect between the Chicago River, the city, and its inhabitants. It investigates new methods of interaction with the water and redefines the river's relationship to pedestrian, car, and building. The proposed design begins at Union Station, progresses beneath the highway, and culminates at a currently abandoned brownfield, providing river access to travelers and citizens. There are many paths to enter and exit the intervention, allowing participants to create their own destinations. The intervention extends 0.7 miles, expanding the pedestrian city four blocks south, thus progressing Chicago in a new, previously unexplored way.